Stable brewed decaffeinized coffee and method of producing the same



Patented Mar. 21, 1939 UNlTED. STATES STABLE BREWED DEGAFFEINIZED COFFEE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME No Drawing.

7 Claims.

to a method of proposed for the decafleinizing of such beverages, some of these are in fairly particularly coffee. and

15 wide commercial use. All of them however add substantially to the cost of notice, and none of them are suitable. for. economical use upon a brewed coffee.

By means of the present invention it is possible 20 to use a prepared cartridge in connection with the domestic preparation of coffee and to "discard this cartridge when its eflectiveness has ceased.

It has been proposed in British patent, No. I 302,332 to use highly active carbon through which brewed coifee is slowly percolated. This process has the disadvantage that highly active carbons are relatively expensive and, at the same time, it

is so absorbent that it removes most of the aroma of the coffee. This is recognized in the British patent, and an attempt is there made to overcome it by pre-treating the carbon with smoke from the roasting of coflee.

It has. now been discovered that excellent decafleinization can be obtaind by the use of ordinary charcoal, and that whenthis is used, no treatment withroast gases is necessary. The coffee so produced has the full aroma of normally brewed coffee, but is free from nearly all of the caffeine, and at the same time tannic and cafietannic acids are largely removed. Normally, as much as 97-98% of the caffeine is taken up by the cartrid e. I It is preferred to use a cartridge of carbon containing from 1 to 10%, preferably from 8 to 10% or calcium carbonate in granular form. Chalk is preferred, and it is preferably in the form of granules about the size of rice kernels. Instead of calcium carbonate, magnesiumcarbonate or other slowly soluble compounds having an alkaline reaction may be used.

The alkaline the solubility of the caffeine, and apparently make it possible for theunactivated carbon to deeaifeinate the beverage properly. nr y .co-pending application No. 716,629 I have described an apparatus which is sintableror domestic use in connection with my process. As shown in that application hot water is percolated to a decaffeinized coffee agents very;materially decrease David Julian Block, Winnetka, 111.

Application December 24, 1934, Serial No. 759,103

through a layer of ground coffee, to produce a coifee brew, and the latter is then rapidly percolated through a layer, preferably in the form of a cartridge, with carbon and alkaline agents. A suitable cartridge for domestic use is pproximately inch in thickness and a diameter of 4-5 inches or upwards, depending upon the amount of coffee to be brewed. A cartridge x -5 inches will normally decafieinate about five gallons of coffee.

A beverage produced in this manner has the surprising faculty of not deteriorating with age. Whereas normal coffee becomes wholly unfit for use shortly after it is brewed, a beverage produced according to this process may be reheated days or .even a week or more after the original brewing and will have the. fullfresh flavor of newly brewed co ee fl The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, but the appended claims should be construed as broadly as permissible in view of theprior art.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The method; of treating coffee for substan tial decaffeinization thereof which comprises preparing a hot water brew of the coffee and contasting the hot brew,with substantially unacti vated carbon in the presence of of a slowly soluble non-toxic alkaline substance.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, in which the alkaline substance is an alkaline earth carbonate. a

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 in which the carbon is ordinary charcoal and the alkaline substance is granular chalk.

4. A decaifeinating compound consisting essentially of powdered charcoal and a granular alkaline earth carbonate.

5. A decafleinating compound consisting essentially of powdered charcoal with 8 to 10% ,of granular c lk.

6. The method of treating coflee for substantial decafleinization thereof which comprises preparing a hot water brew of the coffee and contacting the-hot brewl vated carbon. a

'7. The method of treating coffee for substantial decafleinization thereof which comprises preparing a hot water brew of the coffee and contacting a minor quantity with substantially unactlthe hot brew withsubstantially unactivated car- Q 

